LAUSR

BACKGROUND Cancer is known to be the second significant cause of death worldwide. Chemotherapeutic agents such as platinum-based compounds are frequently used single-handedly or accompanied with additional chemotherapies to treat cancer patients. Chemotherapy-inducedperipheral painful neuropathy is seen in around 40% of patient who are treated with platinum-based compounds including cisplatin. This not only decreases quality of life of patients but also patients' compliance to cisplatin. OBJECTIVES Nalbuphine, an opioid, is frequently used to treat acute and chronic pain coupled with cisplatin in cancer patients. However, long term use of nalbuphine induces tolerance to its analgesic effects. We employed the same strategy to induce tolerance in mice. METHODS Here, we investigated analgesic effects of 2-[(pyrrolidin-1-yl) methyl]-1H-benzimidazole (BNZ), a benzimidazole derivative, on nalbuphine-induced tolerance during cisplatin-induced neuropathic pain using hot plate test, tail flick tests andvon Frey filament in mouse models. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of BNZ on the expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in spinal cord. RESULTS The results showed that BNZ reduced tolerance to analgesic effects of nalbuphine and TNF-α expression in mice. CONCLUSION BNZ could be potential drug candidate for the management of nalbuphine-induced tolerance in cisplatin-induced neuropathicpain.